Everyone possesses creativity and this ability is a normal distribution. However, most creativity researchers select eminent scientists or artists. In addition, in the education literature, creativity research focuses more on children or adolescents (especially college students) rather than older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the intellectual perceptions of creativity in older adults found in scholarly journals. This review attempted to sort out the assumptions underlying the portrayal of older adults and their relationship with creativity in scholarly journals from 1980 to 2012. After reviewing 56 journal articles, two themes emerged: the optimistic view of older adult lives and the need for creativity for successful aging. There is a call from not only educators but also policy makers to invest more funds and energy to promote creativity for (older) adult learners.
Keywords: Adult Education, Creativity, Literature Review, Older Adults
